Una campaña internacional contra el “Uso de la escopeta” en Bahrein

26 de mayo 2010

La Sociedad de Jóvenes de Bahréin por los Derechos Humanos pondrá en marcha una campaña internacional para exponer el uso de la escopeta contra los ciudadanos, donde un grupo de jóvenes de diferentes países participarán en la campaña.

Mohammed Al-Maskati – presidente de la BYSHR – declaró: “La cuestión del uso de la escopeta en Bahrein es una de las cuestiones importantes, y especialmente en la presencia de las víctimas que son seleccionados d blanco de manera arbitraria”.

Al-Maskati aclaró, “un grupo de jóvenes de varios países participarán en la campaña con el fin de traducir los documentos a los idiomas del mundo, tales como inglés, francés, ruso y español”.

Nader Al-Salatna – vice-presidente de la BYSHR – declaró: “La campaña incluirá un documental en diferentes idiomas, y los lemas se distribuirá electrónicamente dentro de Bahrein y en el extranjero. Esto se suma a una petición que se entregará por correo a la Oficina del Alto Comisionado para los Derechos Humanos (OACDH)

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Une campagne internationale contre l’usage des fusils de chasse à
Bahreïn
26 Mai 2010

L’Association des Jeunes Bahreiniens pour les Droits de l’Homme s’apprête à lancer une campagne internationale pour mettre à jour l’usage de fusils de chasse contre les citoyens, à laquelle participera un groupe de jeunes gens issus de plusieurs pays du monde.

Mohammed Al-Maskati – président de l’association – a déclaré que « la question de l’usage des fusils de chasse à Bahreïn est l’une des questions les plus importantes, étant donné les victimes qui ont été ciblées de manière arbitraitre.

Al-Maskati a précisé qu’un « groupe de jeunes issus de plusieurs pays vont participer à la campagne dans le but de traduire les documents en Anglais, Français, Russe, Espagnol, etc. »

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26 Мая, 2010

Молодежное Сообщество по Правам Человека в Бахрейне начнет международную кампанию против использования оружия в адрес граждан. В этой кампании будет задействована группа молодежи из разных стран мира.

Мухаммед Ал-Маскати, президент Молодежного Сообщества по Правам Человека в Бахрейне, заявил: «Вопрос об использовании оружия в Бахрейне является одним из самых главных. Это важно потому, что некоторые люди становятся жертвами случайно.»

Ал-Маскати пояснил: “Группа молодежи из различных стран будет участвовать в кампании для того, чтобы переводить документы на мировые языки, такие как: английский, французский, русский, испанский.”

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An International Campaign against the “Use of Shotgun” in Bahrain

26 May 2010

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights will launch an international campaign to expose the use of shotgun against the citizens, where a group of youth from various countries will take part in the campaign.

Mohammed Al-Maskati – president of the BYSHR – stated, “The issue of using shotgun in Bahrain is one of the important issues, and especially in the presence of victims who are targeted in an arbitrary manner”.

Al-Maskati clarified, “a group of youth from various countries will take part in the campaign in order to translate the documents into world languages; such as English, French, Russian and Spanish”.

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http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=28937

The interactive map aims to bring clarity to the number of Middle East youth kept behind bars for various human rights activities.

With the number of youth across the globe imprisoned for human rights activism rising, a new map has been released to clarify the picture.

The World Youth Movement for Democracy, together with local human rights organizations across the world, are trying present an accurate picture of the number of youth sitting behind bars by launching a web-based map that details each individual case.

“Our main goal is that we want to spread information about all the political prisoners in the world,” said Mohamed Al Maskati, President of the Bahraini Youth Society for Human Rights, one of the organizations behind the campaign.

“We are not focusing on all political prisoners but we are focusing about the youth, especially those who are working as human rights activists or political activists, journalists or bloggers working with non violent actions,” Al Maskati told The Media Line.

Al-Maskati said that one important part of the campaign was getting the world out.

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Taking Advantage of the Law of Assembling to Surround Peaceful Demonstrations

Demands for Radical Reform of Suppressive Laws

18 May 2010

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights expresses its great concern for prohibiting peaceful assemblies and taking advantage of the new – infamous – law, in order to besiege a peaceful demonstration, where the Ministry of Interior refused to permit the political associations to hold a festival on “theft of land and State property” which was supposed to be held on 14 May 2010. The associations stated that the reason for preventing it was, “the festival is held in the evening and the law of assembling prohibits that”. In the same context, the Ministry of Interior refused to receive a notification to hold a sit-in protest against restricting religious freedom.

The report issued from the Council of Representatives reveals theft and exploitation of State properties, where the report confirms that, “the areas stolen exceed 65km2 from the area of Bahrain”, and that, “government lands are leased with 20 fils per year (0.053$) and the leases reach 100 years”, “real estates designated for schools registered in the name of a member of the royal family”, “the State leased an area that is enough to build 783 housing units with an amount that does not exceed 1.100 dollars only.”

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Welcoming the Interrogation of the Security Men in the Torture Case

Interrogating them In Order to Cover Up on the Previous Torture Cases

10 May 2010

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights welcomes the Public Prosecution demand published in the Bahraini Al-Wasat newspaper[1] to interrogate the security men who were accused by a Bahraini citizen of subjecting him torture to make a forced confession in a robbery case. The public defender Abdul-Rahman Al-Sayed sent a letter to the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Legal Affairs for the interrogation.

The BYSHR believes that interrogating the security men in the torture case – mentioned above – is in order to cover up on former torture cases indicated by the local and international organizations, especially torturing the defendants of security cases.

One of the lawyers of BYSHR had stated earlier that the lawyers and since 2007 had filed complaints to the committee of human rights at the Ministry of Interior on torture, and the Ministry of Interior refuses to inform the public opinion, local and international organizations, lawyers and victims, of the steps it took to carry out the interrogation and the results it reached.

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Bahrain suspends Al-Jazeera operations indefinitely

New York, May 19, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the decision by the Bahraini government to indefinitely suspend Al-Jazeera from reporting from the Gulf kingdom

On Tuesday, Bahrain’s Ministry of Culture and Information decided to “temporarily freeze the activities of the Bahrain bureau of the Qatari satellite news channel Al-Jazeera for having violated professional norms and for failing to observe laws and procedures regulating journalism, printing and publishing,” according to the official Bahrain News Agency. The statement went on to say that the suspension would remain in place until a decision is reached that would ensure that Bahraini media can operate in Qatar.

The ministry’s decision comes just one day after Al-Jazeera aired a program about poverty in Bahrain. On Tuesday, the same day the ban was announced, Bahraini authorities denied entry into the country to an Al-Jazeera crew who had come to interview a former United Nations official who was visiting, the news channel reported. Al-Jazeera noted that the freeze includes both the station’s Arabic- and English-language channels as well as the activities of the station’s Bahrain-based online correspondent.

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Bahrain: Set Aside Ruling Against Activist
Judgment Against Leader of Rights Group Violates Freedom of Association
May 14, 2010

(New York) – Bahrain’s criminal court judgment against Mohammad al-Maskati, leader of a human rights group, clearly violates the right to freedom of association and should be revoked immediately, Human Rights Watch said today. Al-Maskati, president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), was given a heavy fine for operating an unregistered organization, after the government refused it a license.

On May 6, 2010, Bahrain’s Lower Criminal Court fined al-Maskati 500 Bahraini Dinar (BD, US$1325) for operating a nongovernmental organization in violation of the Civil Associations Law, which requires groups to register with the Development and Social Affairs Ministry. The group applied for a license in 2005, but the ministry never responded. The society nevertheless openly carried out activities, including public events and workshops regarding the human rights situation in Bahrain and neighboring states.

“Bahrain’s claim that it respects and promotes human rights is incompatible with this kind of arbitrary restriction against a group that may be critical of official policies,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Mohammad al-Maskati tried to comply with the law, and the authorities responded by punishing him with a large fine.”

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PRESS STATEMENT ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE “NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTION” IN BAHRAIN

The King of Bahrain recently formed a governmental body under the name of “the National Human Rights Institution”

NGOs consider this a non-independent government-backed organization and will continue demanding the formation of an independent national institution

The choice of members appointed by royal order to the committee of this organization poses serious questions on the credibility and independence of this organization and the NGOs these members are associated with

2 May 2010

After an eight year wait, and promises made by the Bahraini government to set up a national institution for human rights, the King of Bahrain issued royal order (46) for 2009 to set up “National Human Rights Institution”. Furthermore, royal order (16) for 2010 appointing the Chairman and members of the “National Human Rights Institution”.

One of the main tenets of the Paris Principles[1] about the establishment of human rights institution is that the composition of the national institution and the appointment of its members have guarantees of independence and pluralism.[2]

A glance at the names of the 20 appointed members, we find that 5 members hold high ranking positions in ministries and government bodies; another 6 are currently appointed on or were previously appointed in the hand-picked upper house of parliament (the Shura Council); 5 members are members of other human rights organizations that are government-made or backed , so-called “gongos”; 4 members are close associates to the government which include a journalist, two former officials in the Interior Ministry and Defence Ministry and an academic; the final 3 members are controversial figures associated with different NGOs.

The appointment of this institution through royal order contradicts the proposed parliamentary bill by MPs to form this institution according to the Paris Principles and also did not consult with stakeholders in the community and civil society groups.

Overall, the composition of members does not reflect the voices of genuine NGOs responsible for human rights, trade unions, trends in philosophical or religious thought. In addition, the composition also violates the principle that government officials should participate in the institution in an advisory capacity only since several members hold positions in the Labour, Health and Education Ministries. Overall, the composition is neither independent nor pluralistic and the institution is expected to be biased towards its patron as time will certainly show.

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